‘I know I was the one who could have stopped it all’: Murder-accused driver’s bombshell police statement

A man charged with the murder of a mum by allegedly “aiding” her killer told police he “could have stopped” his boss from setting the woman on fire.

Bradley Bell is on trial for the murder of Gold Coast mum Kelly Wilkinson, who was repeatedly stabbed by her ex-husband Brian Earl Johnston before he doused her in petrol and set her on fire on the morning of April 20, 2021.

Mr Bell is not alleged to have killed Ms Wilkinson but the Crown alleges he “aided or enabled” Johnston by driving him to his ex-wife’s address, filling up a jerry can with fuel along the way.

Mr Bell, 28, has pleaded not guilty to Ms Wilkinson’s murder.

The jury was told Mr Bell allegedly drove Johnston to the house, stopping at a servo to fill up a jerry can with fuel on the way.

Crown prosecutor David Nardone said Johnston allegedly offered Mr Bell $1000 to drive him there.

During his opening, Mr Nardone said Johnston had been asked to leave Ms Wilkinson’s home in Arundel.

Mr Bell and Johnston were co-workers at the time of Ms Wilkinson’s death and Johnston had repeatedly told him he wanted to “kill” his ex-wife, including a plan to “tie her up and burn her”.

On Tuesday, Mr Bell’s interview with police on July 20 that same year was played to the jury.

During the interview, Mr Bell explains he liked Johnston but not his “bullcrap stories”, and spoke about how his boss would “constantly” go on about his issues with Ms Wilkinson.

“He (Johnston) would bring it up, mention how he didn’t want Kelly in his life because of what she was doing,” Mr Bell tells them.

“He had been talking about it all day, how he was going to kill Kelly.

Mr Bell says Johnston “might have mentioned” wanting to burn Ms Wilkinson and tells detectives a day before Johnston had talked about “tying up and burning” the woman.

“At the time, I knew he wanted to kill her and to do it, but I did not think he was capable of doing it,” Mr Bell said.

“I didn’t think he was going to follow up on it,” he says.

“I sort of just played with it and rolled with a ball.

“He was my boss, I was sick of hearing about the s**t going on the last week.”

Mr Bell insists he did not think Johnston would “seriously” go through with his actions, telling detectives he “would have stopped it, right there and then”.

“I think about this all the time,” he says.

“I know I was the one who could have stopped it all. I could have stopped the whole f**king thing.

“All I was about was getting rid of Brian, getting him out of my hands.”

In his second statement to police – read in court on Tuesday – Mr Bell recounted picking up Johnston the night before Ms Wilkinson’s death and driving to another person’s house so Johnston could collect his things.

Mr Bell recalled seeing Johnston carrying a camouflage bag from the property.

On Monday, the jury was told this bag allegedly contained zipties, duct tape, a pinch bar, the bag of white powder and white rope.

“I didn’t question Brian about the bag – I just assumed it had his clothes in it,” Mr Bell said in his statement.

He continued by saying the pair picked up KFC. Johnston then asked if they could “go for a drive” to Ms Wilkinson’s house.

Johnston pointed the house out, saying he just wanted to see if “Kelly was home”, Mr Bell said.

“I didn’t think much of it,” Mr Bell said in his statement.

Mr Bell said he was woken about 3am the next morning by Johnston, who asked him again to drive to Ms Wilkinson’s house.

“I was too tired to think, and he is my boss, so I just did what he asked,” Mr Bell said in his statement.

He also detailed how he “didn’t think” about filling up the jerry can at the service station.

“I didn’t think anything of Brian asking for fuel in the jerry can. He never offered an explanation, and I never asked,” Mr Bell said in his statement.

“It just didn’t concern me. I didn’t feel it was my place to ask.

“Brian is my boss … I was thankful for the job … (and) wanted to keep the job and boss happy.”

In his statement, Mr Bell continued by saying he asked Johnston “you sure you’re all right?”

Johnston then replied “yeah” before Mr Bell drove back to his campsite and went to sleep, he said.

Earlier in the day, chilling footage of Mr Bell filling up a jerry can with petrol for his boss was played to the jury.

Mr Bell then walks inside the service station and pays for the fuel and some drinks.

Footage of Johnston pacing his workplace at Exo Group in Coomera, along with the footage of Mr Bell arriving at the service station at 3am, was also played.

Ed Whitton, Mr Bell’s defence barrister, had earlier told the jury their main focus would be to determine if the Crown had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr Bell “knew or expected what Johnston was going to do”.

“Bradley Bell didn’t kill anyone,” Mr Whitton said.

He urged the jury to assess the evidence fairly and objectively, including a recorded interview between Mr Bell and police.

“Please understand, there will be two sides to this story by the time this trial has finished,” Mr Whitton said.

“I can tell you now … you will hear an explanation from Bradley Bell as to why he said those things to the police.”

The trial continues.

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